Beware Of Some Debt Collection Agency~Such As NCO Financial

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I just thought I give folks here the heads up of debt collections agencies in general, but in particular a company known as NCO Financial Systems, which is probably one of the more major ones known. In a word (or two) this debt collection agency is not only a pain in the a$$, but could be one of the biggest scam agencies going. I've had a few run ins with this company in the past. First with old debts my mother had owed. To put it mildly, she had been a bit slack about paying her debts...when she passed away I had the "delight" of sending copies of her death certificate to every place she owed money to, from old credit card debts, loans, etc...like na-na-na-na-na, you're not going to be paid..heehee. Since those were HER debts I wasn't responsible for them and frankly I couldn't have paid them anyway as she was in total debt of well over $25,000. Yeah, sure. Well NCO was one that didn't back down..don't ask how many times they kept hounding me...finally it did get settled, and they haven't bothered me about my mother's debts. AH!! But they are hounding me for a small outstanding debt bill originally from AT&T for about a hundred dollars. Well, $100 is not much of a debt, but to be honest I just can't pay it, even in small installments, as I'm on disability. About a month ago, I received another reminder from NCO Financial about this debt...been meaning to write a letter to them (which I did just yesterday) to explain the circumstances of my finances. Then yesterday on my answering machine I get a phone call from them (didn't answer). So now I take out the letter from them to me and was thinking in terms of emailing to them as well...So I went to their website. It required that I type in the "code" for my "case"...okay did...then here was the strange thing...and it got my alarms going up loud and clear..another window pops up and it's asking me to type in my Social Security number....and I'm thinking, no friggin' way--I'm NOT going to type in my number, so left the site... So now I'm hunting around and doing searches in general about NCO Financial..and here's what I came up with...This is from the Rip-off Report website: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/279/RipOff0279287.htm This is only part of the whole article...please read the entire thing to get a better sense of it: (Quote) ..."If you have recently receive a notice like this in the mail, chances are you're yet another unfortunate victim to what appears to be some sort of fradulent activiting going around, even common amongst supposedly 'incorporated' online financial entities. Most originating creditors listed on these notices will be AMERICA ONLINE, INC. Not to worry, if you have never had an account with America Online or are confident that you should not have received this debt collection notice, here's what you need to do to bring things back under control: 1. DON'T PANIC - Many unsuspecting citizens have been the recipient of this ordeal. It's nothing new. Just stay calm. 2. STOP - Don't contact NCO Financial Systems, Inc. After all, they were the ones that sent you the bill and they are the ones you are going to file a complaint against (and if you have enough money, time and resources, press charges against). Secondly, don't bother visiting the site that was listed in the notice, www.ncofinancial.com. You will be subject to spyware and/or malware which could infect your computer and possibly validate or confirm the debt to NCO Financial Systems, Inc. which you obviously do not owe. Lastly, don't bother calling the number listed on the notice from an anonymous phone booth. You'll only waste your time calling an invalid number that will ring for a long time and then hang up. 3. CONTACT FTC (877) 382-4357 - Contact the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and file a complaint. This is very important. As of the writing of this article, you are only asked for your name and basic contact information. Once you have completed your complaint with FTC, you will be highly advised to send a copy of the debt collection notice you received in the mail back to NCO Financial Systems, Inc. with a note attached to it explicitly stating that you do not owe the principal on the notice. It would be good for you to provide a simple reason as to why you don't owe that amount (e.g. you've never had account with AOL before). Be sure to write down the case number you're given over the phone. 4. CONTACT AOL (800) 307-7969 - Shortly after filing a complaint with the FTC, you'll want to notify AOL's Fraud Department of the notice you received in the mail. All critiscms of AOL's poor service set aside, their representatives are courteous and easy to work with. Simply explain your situation and tell them that you received a billing notice from NCO Financial in regards to the principal amount shown that you do not owe. Also state the reason why you do not owe it. They will ask for the account number shown on the notice. This will be located in the ACCOUNT # line. Chances are, 9 times out of 10, the account will register as being valid and that someone did in fact register this account under your name. Sounds like identity theft, doesn't it? Well it happens. Once AOL acknowledges your complaint, they will request a mailing address to send an affidavit form to. Simply fill out this form and send it back. 5. CONTACT YOUR LOCAL PD - If you would like information on the account itself that was set up under your name (for further investigation purposes), you will have to contact your local police department, let them know what's going on and have them call AOL's Fraud Department (the same number) to retrieve the account's information. The police will then act as a middle man and relay that information back to you. Be sure to write down any case numbers you are given by AOL or your local police department. 6. CONTACT BBB - The Better Business Bureau can be of great help in resolving the matter. Follow the links on their site to file a complaint against NCO Financial Systems, Inc. Any contact information that pulls up under NCO Financial Systems, Inc. simply discard. You'll only get in touch with Capital One and get yelled at. Once you've finished going through BBB's website, be sure to write down the tracking number on the final page. Once you've done that, the weight is now off your shoulders and on that of the Better Business Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission. These are your two biggest intecessors you need to alert when confronted with a problem like this. You will want to make sure you fill out and return the affidavit form that AOL sends you in a timely fashion. Over the phone, they will immediately stop any bills sent to NCO Financial and suspend the offending account's billing cycle that's incurring these charges. By filling out and returning their affidavit form, this ensures that the total principal amount shown on the notice that you presumably owe will be cleared completely so that you won't have to worry about it while the FTC, BBB and your local police department are investigating the matter..." As you can see in point #2...It says don't go to their website or give private info as the site contains spyware... There are more reports from this same website of Rip-off Report basically all saying the same thing of how people are being harassed, getting phone calls everyday,...etc. http://www.ripoffreport.com/searchresults.asp?q1=ALL&q2=&q3=&q4=&q5=&q7=&q6=NCO%20Financial&searchtype=0 Here's another website where it clearly states DO NOT PAY NCO A PENNY http://www.ethannonsequitur.com/nco-financial-systems.html Anyway I did file a complaint about NCO on-line with the Federal Trade Commission and plan to file some more complaints. Bottom line with all this...even if you do have some kind of past-due bill...DON'T PAY VIA NCO Financial as they are rip-off scam artists. Thought I warn you all...have any of you had run ins with this or any other debt collectors? Do a search to find out the legitimacy of the company before you hand over a penny